1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for data storage, and a recording medium therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it has become possible to exchange information in real time among computers that are located around the world and interconnected over the Internet. Home pages are known as a means for providing information over the Internet. A home page is composed of text (document) information and image information, written mainly in hyper text markup language (HTML). The home page can be shared by individual computers connected over the Internet or other networks. It is required that documents or images can be extracted from home pages and utilized effectively in the form of a personal database.
Assume that a document (text information) contained in a given home page must be stored by operating a computer of a prior art. In this case, the leading position of the document, which must be stored, in the home page displayed on the display screen of the computer is pointed to by manipulating a mouse. With a mouse button held down, the mouse is dragged until the last position of the document to be stored is pointed to or the pointed position is shifted from the leading position to the last position. The mouse button is then released, whereby a range of the document that must be stored can be designated. The color of the background of the designated range of the document is changed to, for example, blue. The right mouse button is then clicked inside the range, and the Copy menu will appear. When Copy is clicked, the designated range of the document is temporarily buffered. Affix in the Edit menu is then clicked, whereby the designated range of the document in the home page is fetched from the buffer into a new document.
On the other hand, an image in a given home page may be required to be stored. In this case, the image in the home page displayed on the display screen of a computer, which must be stored, is pointed to by the mouse. When the right mouse button is clicked, the menu xe2x80x9cName and Store Imagexe2x80x9d appears. Thereafter, a storage place and a file name are entered and the Store button is clicked. The image in the home page can thus be stored.
However, according to the foregoing method of storing an image extracted from a home page in accordance with the prior art, the Name and Store Image menu may not appear. The Name and Store Image menu may not appear, though an image in a home page displayed on the display screen of a computer, which must be stored, is pointed to and then clicked using the mouse. In this case, the image clicked using the mouse cannot be stored. The method of storing an image extracted from a home page in accordance with the prior art has thus a problem. This is attributable to the fact that whether an image requested to be stored can be stored cannot be recognized until the image is pointed out and clicked using the mouse.
Moreover, the home page is displayed with text information and image information arranged in a screen according to a tag borne by an HTML document. For storing a plurality of items of image information contained in a home page, the mouse must be manipulated in order to point out the scattered items of image information.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the foregoing problems and to provide a method and apparatus having simplified operation for data storage to be employed in a computer system, and a recording medium used for the method and apparatus.
A method for data storage, in accordance with the present invention, which attempts to solve the problems is a method of storing desired data selected from data displayed in a screen. Specifically, data of a given kind is retrieved from the displayed data. The retrieved data is listed. Desired data is selected from the listed data. The selected data is then stored on a recording medium.
Owing to the above method, data that must be stored is listed and displayed in a screen. Thus, an operation required to store data on a recording medium can be simplified.
In the method for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be composed of character information and image information. The data of a given kind may be the image information.
In the method for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be displayed based on a document written in a given language. The data of a given kind may be detected from the contents of the document.
In the method for data storage of the present invention, the listing may be displayed according to a given sort, or type.
In the method for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be a remote home page. The data of a given kind may be retrieved from a document written to display the home page.
In the method for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be recorded on a local recording medium. The data of a given kind may be retrieved from a document written to display the data recorded on the recording medium.
An apparatus for data storage, in accordance with the present invention, which attempts to solve the aforesaid problems is an apparatus for storing desired data retrieved from data displayed on a screen. The apparatus has a retrieving unit that retrieves data of a given kind from the displayed data, a listing unit that lists the detected data, and a storing unit that stores the selected data on a recording medium.
The apparatus may have another unit that selects desired data from the listed data.
In the apparatus for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be composed of character information and image information. The data of a given type may be the image information.
In the apparatus for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be displayed based on a document written in a given language. The data of a given kind may be detected from the contents of the document.
In the apparatus for data storage of the present invention, the listing may be displayed according to a given sort.
In the apparatus for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be a remote home page. The data of a given kind may be retrieved from a document written to display the home page.
In the apparatus for data storage of the present invention, the displayed data may be recorded on a local recording medium. The data of a given kind maybe retrieved from a document written to display the data recorded on the recording medium.
A recording medium, in accordance with the present invention which attempts to solve the aforesaid problems, is a recording medium readable by a computer. Recorded on the recording medium is a program causing a computer to execute the steps of retrieving data of a given kind from data displayed in a screen, listing the detected data, selecting desired data from the listed data, and storing the selected data on the recording medium.
In the recording medium of the present invention, the program may cause the computer to execute another step of selecting desired data from the listed data.
In the recording medium of the present invention, the displayed data may be composed of character information and image information. The data of a given kind may be the image information. In the recording medium of the present invention, the displayed data may be displayed based on a document written in a given language. The data of a given kind may be detected from the contents of the document.